Louise Nevelson's triumphant return to Venice with 'Persistence'

The exhibition 'Louise Nevelson. Persistence' at the restored Procuratie Vecchie in Venice aligns with the feminist rewriting of art history championed by Cecilia Alemani's 'Il latte dei sogni' exhibition at the 2022 Venice Biennale. Nevelson, born Leah Berliawsky in Kyiv, Ukraine in 1899, fled anti-Semitic persecution with her family in 1905 and settled in New York. She adopted the name Nevelson after marrying Charles Nevelson at 17; the marriage ended in 1941, but he supported her early career. Her first critical recognition came in 1935. Curated by Julia Bryan-Wilson of UC Berkeley, the show highlights the difficulties Nevelson faced as a woman in a male-dominated art world, with her monumental, muscular wall sculptures, aggressive use of black, and themes like weaponry (e.g., the Artillery series repurposing ammunition boxes). The exhibition features works from the 1950s to the 1980s, including environmental sculptures from the 1960s and 1970s, rare white pieces (e.g., 'Dawn's Presence – Three' from 1975) and gold works (e.g., 'The golden pearl' from 1962). A photographic reenactment of the 1962 American Pavilion at the Venice Biennale—organized by MoMA with René D'Harnoncourt and Waldo Rasmussen as commissioners, alongside artists Dimitri Hadzi, Loren Maclver, and Ian Müller—marks the 60th anniversary. The show underscores Nevelson's 'proliferating presence' and 'total feminine ambiguity,' as described by Carla Lonzi in 1962.